


Commitments

by AnotherFan (imagine_asagao)



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen, It's not really a college au, SI5 mission, kind of not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:46:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23451913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imagine_asagao/pseuds/AnotherFan
Summary: Daniel Jacobi graduated from college.  And now he had to go back because of a stupid mission.  Warren Kepler would be the death of him - if he wasn't the death of Warren Kepler first.
Relationships: Daniel Jacobi & Alana Maxwell, Daniel Jacobi & Warren Kepler
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	Commitments

**Author's Note:**

> Blame Julia for what you are about to read, I mentioned this idea to her (my original idea was much angstier and then she made me laugh) and we ran with it  
> There's swearing so it's not entirely G, but I also don't feel like it deserves T? If you think it should change, just let me know and I'll do so

“What do you mean ‘you’re going back to college’?” Jacobi asked.

“I mean what I said. Part of the surveillance for this mission includes attending university,” Kepler said, sipping from his scotch. Jacobi and Maxwell were playing a game of battleship.

“What are we supposed to be there for? I’m not sure I could pretend to be in undergrad for very long-” Maxwell started.

“No, you wouldn’t last a second,” Jacobi interjected.

“That is why you two are going into doctorate programs,” Kepler said.

“Doctorate? I’m not sure I’m qualified for a doctorate program. I mean, Maxwell, sure, but...:”

“Don’t complain, Jacobi.” Kepler put his glass on a table and pulled out two files. “These are your two covers. Dr. Maxwell, you will be attending Carnegie Mellon University for artificial intelligence. Mr. Jacobi, you will be attending Chatham University for environmental science.”

“Why can’t we go to the same college?” Maxwell asked at the same time that Jacobi asked “You’re sending me to a girl’s school?”

Kepler sighed before answering. “Your colleges are a twenty minute walk away from each other. And don’t be a dick, Jacobi, Chatham just became gender inclusive.”

Another voice filled the room. “We will be landing in Pittsburgh shortly, please buckle your seatbelts and put your tray tables up. Or don’t, I’m not your boss.” Kepler finished his scotch and put the glass back in its holder as Maxwell grabbed her file.

“Who spells Pittsburgh with an h? No other city does that,” Jacobi grumbled as he grabbed his file. 

The plane landed smoothly - of course it did, how could it not - and the trio grabbed their luggage before disembarking. An airport worker led them inside the airport and seemed relieved that there were no bags left on the plane.

“Let’s see… long term parking, near section 1C…” Kepler said, leading them to the parking lot.

“Wait… did you say environmental science?” Jacobi asked, Kepler’s words finally catching up to him.

“Yes, I did indeed, Mr. Jacobi,” Kepler said, staring where he was walking.

“But I don’t know anything about environmental science!” Jacobi protested.

Kepler stopped and turned to look at him. “This is your assignment, Jacobi. You will accept it. Besides, I think you may… find the materials more familiar than you first thought.” And with that, Kepler continued walking to the car.

Maxwell walked besides Jacobi and flung her arm over her shoulder. “I don’t know much about environmental science, but I can help you study,” she said.

“Yeah, because you’ll have a lot of free time getting another doctorate in artificial intelligence,” Jacobi said. He knew Kepler liked to push them, but… this? How was he going to pretend that he could get a doctorate in a field he knew nothing about? He sighed, and Alana seemed to understand what he meant, tightening her grip on him, giving as much of a hug as she could while they were still walking.

“Ah, there’s the car,” Kepler said.

* * *

“I hate traffic,” Jacobi grumbled to Maxwell in the back seat, soft enough that Kepler wouldn’t hear him. They had been sitting there for who knows how long. They hadn’t even gotten to the apartment where they would be staying. This was still on the way from the airport.

“So, Jacobi,” Kepler said from the driver’s seat, “how do you know about Chatham?”

“I heard about their new campus and want to be there when it opens,” he recited.

“No no, I mean how did you know that Chatham started as a women’s college?” Kepler waved his hand as he asked the question, as if he didn’t already know the answer. Jacobi knew he knew.

“Well, sir, I wanted to get out of my hometown, and Pittsburgh is a big enough of a city that I would be comfortable here with plenty of opportunities, yet it’s also small enough that I could easily go hiking if I wanted to. And there’s a ridiculous amount of colleges,” Jacobi said. “So I looked into going to college here. Didn’t end up going here, but I got far enough that I applied to some schools in the area.”

“Pittsburgh’s pretty far from your hometown,” Kepler said.

“Like I said, I wanted to leave.”

The silence after that filled the car. Maxwell didn’t know how to diffuse it other than suggesting a game, but she knew Kepler would want to play questions only, and she didn’t want to inflict that. Eventually, they got to the beginning of the tunnel.

“Do people in Pittsburgh know how to drive? It’s just a tunnel. Why was there so much traffic for a tunnel?” Maxwell asked.

“It’s just a thing in Pittsburgh, they slow down when they enter the tunnels,” Jacobi said. “But we’re almost at the good part.”

“The good part?” Maxwell asked.

“The light at the end of the tunnel, if you will.” Jacobi smirked. Soon enough, they did see the light at the end of the tunnel and then emerged from the tunnel.

“So that’s what Pittsburgh looks like,” Maxwell said, looking around at the skyline of the city from the bridge they were on.

“I will admit, that is a hell of a first view of a city,” Kepler said. Jacobi sat back in his seat and smiled.

* * *

The apartment was bigger than they expected. It still wasn’t big, but it was larger than the hotel room size they usually had. It was already furnished, which was to be expected, with one queen sized bed and one twin sized bed, which was unexpected.

Kepler immediately claimed the larger bed for his own, but Maxwell and Jacobi protested, saying that either they couldn’t spend the whole trip taking turns sleeping on the sofa like they normally did, it wasn’t a pullout, so either he could have his own bed just smaller or he could have the large bed and share with someone.

Warren Kepler doesn’t downgrade (he also doesn’t share, but he will if he must), so he kept the larger bed, and Jacobi was to sleep in the same bed. It’s not like it really mattered, they were all sleeping in the same room anyways. They ordered takeout from a nearby restaurant for dinner that night, settling in to their new home for the next few months.

* * *

Classes started without a hitch. In fact, they were going almost  _ too _ well. Kepler took pity on Jacobi (really, he just wanted to go a whole day without Jacobi whining about how he didn’t know anything about environmental science) and instead of putting him in the doctorate program or even in a master’s program, he put him in a bachelor’s program. He ought to understand that. Maxwell didn’t attract too much trouble, everyone was just very impressed with her work and many of the other students were either jealous of her or admired her. Jacobi, on the other hand, well, Kepler was annoyed he showed even the slightest sign of weakness…

“Sorry, boss, I can’t go on a surveillance trip with you. I want to get my homework done before the study session tomorrow.”

“Study… session?”

“Yeah, we have a really important test tomorrow.”

“You know you don’t actually have to pass your classes, we’re just undercover.”

Jacobi and Maxwell just stared at him.

Kepler sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Listen. You two both went to college. You two both  _ passed _ college. This is a surveillance mission. You will not be staying the whole semester. You do not need to spend so much valuable time doing this pointless homework.”

“What do you mean we won’t be spending the semester here!? I already started my first project, which is a semester long!” Maxwell protested.

Kepler knew that he would be fighting a losing battle since both Jacobi and Maxwell were determined to actually act as if they were in college (were they actually this studious in college? Or were they just doing this to annoy him?), so he reluctantly let Jacobi stay behind. The surveillance trip was oddly quiet without him.

* * *

“We’re thinking of going to the over twenty-one event at the museum later this week, did you want to join us?” one of the girls in Jacobi’s study group asked him.

“No thanks, I have other things to do,” he said, packing up his stuff.

“Like your girlfriend?” someone else asked.

“You wish,” he said.

“So if you’re not going to hang out with your girlfriend, where are you going?”

“To my apartment?”

“Who do you live with?”

“Uh… my sister?”

“Oh, I want to meet her! Does she look like you? Is she cute?”

“Maybe you’ll meet her someday, no she doesn’t look like me, I guess she’s cute? I’ve had to fight guys about her before,” he said. Technically that last part was true, he just didn’t mention that it was in the context of giving her more time to work on reprogramming an AI.

Jacobi slipped out of the study room in the library before anyone else could ask more questions. He left the library right as a group of people left the theater right next to the library. Well, it was a surveillance mission, right? May as well survey the theater while he waits for the study group to leave so he doesn’t run into them.

He entered the theater from the one unlocked door. It was silent. A brief inspection showed no one was in the theater. Well, may as well make the most of it. A thorough investigation showed nothing out of the ordinary, which is something he could report to Kepler. Eventually he got to the catwalk. He took some extra time up there, being hidden from view, alone in the messy paths above the theater. Someone should really clean this up. He eventually made his way to the tech booth from the catwalk and turned the light on.

The tech booth was… well it was a mess, there was no other way to put it. There were wires everywhere. This whole thing was a fire hazard. Maybe Jacobi could use this to his advanta-

The door swung open, showing a woman standing there.

“Oh, I wasn’t expecting anyone to be in here,” she said.

“It’s fine, I was just leaving,” Jacobi said.

“What were you here for?”

“I was, uh, just checking out the light system you had here.”

“Do you know how to use this light set up?”

“Yes.” No, he had never seen this set up before, but he could learn, it was less complicated than the bombs he worked with.

“Oh, wonderful! They just replaced the system, but heaven forbid they consult the drama department about it. We don’t know what to do about it.”

“I can help?” This was a bad idea.

“Wonderful! I’m Julia Len, head of the drama department. Let’s discuss availability for rehearsal…”

* * *

Too bad this was only for a semester (Kepler was  _ not _ dragging her away before she finished this project), Maxwell would’ve liked to earn another degree and learn more. She sat in the kitchen of the apartment, typing away on her computer. Jacobi entered as silently as he could, but not silently enough when someone is sitting right in front of the door, waiting for you.

“Where were you?” Kepler asked.

“At rehearsal.”

“Rehearsal.”

“Yes, rehearsal. We’re doing  _ Rocky Horror _ , and they needed someone to run the lights.”

“Very well, but if you come back late tomorrow, we’re searching for you.”

“But I have rehearsal tomorrow as well. Do you want me to buy you a ticket?”

“Did you at least learn anything useful?”

“Oh, yeah, one of my classes is going over fertilizer at the moment.”

It was amazing, in Kepler’s opinion, how much work he was able to get done with his team essentially one member short. Maxwell was making great progress on her project and only rarely inconvenienced Kepler with pesky projects and deadlines, and she definitely didn’t bother him with rehearsals. At some points, it seemed like Jacobi was purposefully taking on many projects just to annoy him.

* * *

“Oh, you’re back! Did you pick up snacks?” Jacobi called as Maxwell and Kepler entered the apartment.

“No? Were we supposed to?” Maxwell asked.

“I texted you like half an hour ago because we’re out. Oh well. I’m ordering Insomnia Cookies, do you want any?” Jacobi asked.

“At this late hour?” Kepler couldn’t believe that people would order cookies so late.

“That’s why they’re called Insomnia Cookies,” Jacobi said. “Anyways, I’m ordering some snickerdoodles, anyone else want anything?”

“Oh, I want those smores cookies! With some mint chocolate chip ice cream?” Maxwell said as she went to the bathroom to clean up.

“Sounds good. You want some?” Jacobi asked Kepler, who just stared.

“Butterscotch,” he said after a moment.

“How was surveillance?” Jacobi asked as he placed the order.

“We need to find out who’s point and where they are,” Maxwell called from the bathroom.

“Dr. Maxwell intercepted data saying that the drop would happen at the point next Sunday,” Kepler said, grabbing a glass.

“You mean the point?” Jacobi asked.

“That is what I said, is it not? So now we need to find out who the point is,” Kepler said. Why did he keep on having to repeat himself? If Jacobi had been with them, he would’ve heard it for himself and they wouldn’t be having this discussion.

“No, I mean the Point. Where the rivers meet up? There’s a fountain there?” Jacobi said.

“You mean to tell us that the point is an actual place,” Kepler said slowly.

“Yeah, where do you think Point Park got its name?” Jacobi said. Kepler had to turn away from Jacobi so no one would see the look on his face.

* * *

This was it, this was the final straw. It was the day before the drop, and Daniel fucking Jacobi was at a performance. He should be preparing with them. Kepler growled and almost threw his glass on the floor, catching himself in time.

“Are… are you alright?” Maxwell asked from a distance.

“Yes, Dr. Maxwell, I am perfectly alright. However, I cannot say the same for Mr. Jacobi,” Kepler said, slowly turning towards her. Jacobi, with the worst timing, chose then to enter the apartment. “Speak of the devil,” he said, glaring at Jacobi.

“Hello, sir, how was your evening?” he asked. Kepler was upset, he could see that much, what could he do to diffuse the situation?

“Dr. Maxwell, please leave us.”

“But sir-”

“Leave. Us.”

“Yes, sir.” Maxwell scurried out of the apartment with her laptop, hand brushing Jacobi’s arm in an attempt to comfort him.

“Where were you?” Kepler asked.

“I was at the performance, sir, just like I told you.”

“Why.”

“Because I agreed to do lights for the show.”

“Why weren’t you here.”

“Because I couldn’t let the other people involved in the performance down.”

“So instead you let us down. I see.”

“Sir?”

“I brought you into this company, into this specific and highly selective group, because I knew you could do great things, Jacobi. I am disappointed to see your talent go to waste on simple things like light shows.”

“Sir, I’m sorry, I-”

“ _ Quiet. _ Tonight was important. We have less than twelve hours until the drop. We need to be ready. I just have one question for you: Where do your loyalties lie, Mr. Jacobi?”

* * *

“Everything’s in place, sir,” Jacobi spoke into the comms.

“Good. Maxwell?”

“Also ready, sir. No one can see us.”

“Wait for my signal.”

“Yes sir.” Jacobi couldn’t mess this up. Not after he was such a disappointment. Not after he let Kepler down. It was a miracle that he was still allowed on the mission, but he supposed Kepler didn’t have a choice, or else he wouldn’t be there. They needed someone to blow up the fountain so that the person doing the drop with Goddard’s stolen research could be arrested without Goddard having to take them to trial and waste valuable resources.

Jacobi watched Kepler walk in between the fountain and the river. It was early enough that no one else was out here yet, but he could see someone in the distance. The mark, then. Jacobi was on a dock on the other side of the river, out of sight if he just ducked down, too far away to hear what the other person was saying. He could hear what Kepler was saying through the comms, currently speaking in a murmur, and right now it was-

“Don’t let me down again, Daniel Jacobi.”

Jacobi almost replied, but then Kepler started speaking again, this time in his normal volume. “Hello, my name is Colonel Warren Kepler, I believe you have something of mine.”

Jacobi started the prep.

“The money, of course, here it is. Now then, would you mind handing over that briefcase?”

Everything was ready.

“Perfect, everything is in this briefcase. Would you fancy a swim?”

Now.

Jacobi hit the button as Kepler dived into the river. The top of the fountain blew up, spraying water everywhere. The person holding the briefcase of stolen money got soaked, leaving him distracted from Kepler’s escape and implicating him in the destruction of the fountain; the fertilizer used in the bomb would be found at his home.

“Cameras back online,” Maxwell said. “They have a clear view of him. Jacobi, is Kepler with you?”

Jacobi stood still on the dock. Kepler could hold his breath for a long time, but would it be long enough? What if the briefcase inhibited his swimming? The comms didn’t work underwater, if something had gone wrong, he couldn’t tell them. This wouldn’t have happened if Jacobi had helped them yesterday, it was his fault, Kepler was in danger because of him-

“Daniel?” Maxwell asked.

“He’s- Alana, he’s not here yet,” Jacobi said.

“Kepler can take care of himself, he’s fine,” Maxwell said, but Jacobi could hear the worry slipping into her voice.

“But if he’s gone, it would be my fault, I’m going after-” Kepler emerged from the water, gasping for breath. Jacobi helped him onto the dock.

“Next time,” Kepler said when he got his breath back enough to speak, “we’re using scuba gear.”

* * *

“You wanted to speak to me, sir?” Jacobi asked after the door shut behind Maxwell, who had gone to get lunch.

“Yes.” Kepler walked over to stand in front of Jacobi. “You jeopardized this mission and put my life in danger.”

“I’m sorry, sir-”

“You didn’t let me finish, Jacobi. Despite this, you still managed to complete the mission and even put on a good show.”

“Sir?”

“Dr. Maxwell made me watch the performance on Friday night. I will admit that the lights were very impressive. While I trust that your loyalties are with us, do not make me doubt them again. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. Would you like a cookie?”

“Yes… sir?”

“I do thoroughly enjoy those Insomnia Cookies. You know, they remind me of-"

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Mariah and Zy for beta reading this! And thank you to the Wolf 359 discord for answering my random questions such as who would order what cookies


End file.
